Bail protected a secret for the last half of his life. A secret so powerful that it would eventually bring down an Empire. The secret was a story of parents and children. More specifically two twin children. One of which he took on as his own daughter.

He loved and raised this baby girl into the beautiful, strong willed politician and rebel leader, Leia Organa. Though she was adopted I can only speculate that he could not have loved her any more if she was his own flesh and blood. He raised her knowing full well that he would have to let her go.

Instead of hiding her away within a quiet life, he prepared her the only way he knew how. By teaching her the ways of leadership, he hid her in plain site. Leia was brought into the middle of the Empire and the rebellion. Never knowing even herself what a dangerous position she was in.

Then the moment came. I wonder what that decision was like. To be inside his mind as he made the choice to let her go. He and the other Rebel leaders had just received the news from their spies of the newly completed Death Star. They had to strike now or the Empire could not be stopped and the rebellion would be for naught. The same spies had the plans that could expose the massive weapons weaknesses. He did all he could but now his secret must be at it's end. The war was not just about fire power. The secret he had held was a potentially more powerful weapon than any military weapon and he knew it.

Bail then did the hardest thing of his entire life. He sent Leia on to complete her destiny as the twin heirs apparent to the chosen one. It stands to reason, Leia was probably the most trusted of all his operatives and was the best suited to make a succesful mission. There was more than that though. If it was just about bringing the plans to the rebel leaders it would have been more prudent to go straight to them. No, Bail does something peculiar here. He sends her on a detour in the outer rim. To a desolate backworld planet to find a forgotten old general of the Clone Wars.

We know this because Leia says she was sent by her father to find him. Sent to find the man, who as Bail knows, protects the other half of the secret. This tells me Bail wanted her to find Obi-wan. So that the twins could finally be brought together and have the secret revealed to them. That secret could then be unleashed upon the Empire. Giving her up to Obi-wan was the last act as a father he made.

Things did not go according to the plan he had in his mind, but ultimately was succesful. The Skywalker legacy being brought full circle. The rest is Star Wars history. A history Bail never got to see but would have been proud. This girl he raised helping to bring and end to the dark times.

As a father myself, I have some admiration for the man, Bail Organa. We knew so little of him in the original trilogy. The prequels and EU showed us a dedicated public servant and leader. Even more so he was the man Leia called "Father". A man who loved his galaxy so much he sacrificed his fatherhood to save it.